I have been watching the construction at 700 Broadway with pleasure and, yes, excitement, for more than a year now. I go past there several times a week and with each move toward completion I have thought about how the completed 700 Broadway will look, what it will mean to the north end of the Broadway business district and how it will change the feel of the intersection of Roy, Broadway and 10th Avenue East.
My reactions have been positive throughout. I was pleased with the footprint that clearly oriented the building facing the intersection and delighted when the brick veneer went on. I thought about how the building was transforming an irregular intersection into an urban crossroads with a European feel. The concave front facing Broadway gives a welcoming terminus to Broadway.
Thus it was that I was surprised and disappointed when the P-I architecture critic declared that, "The best thing that can be said about 700 Broadway is that it's better than an empty lot." The column went on to savage the unfinished building and, by extension, the developers, architects and everyone else associated with it.
Frankly, I am puzzled about what role an architecture critic is supposed to play in our society. Movie and theater critics provide a useful service, giving us an idea of whether or not we will want to spend our hard-earned money on a given production.
What does an architecture critic give us? In this case I think the critic slipped into the hole that all critics must avoid, that of writing to aggrandize themselves at the expensive of their subjects. This was not, in any sense, positive criticism.
Just what's needed
I am not an architect and I have no training in architecture, but I do like looking at buildings. I enjoy thinking about what pleases me in a building and what does not. How often do you go downtown and look at the top floors of high-rise buildings? I do it all the time.
I wish to offer a dissenting opinion concerning this new development. I agree that the new building is better than an empty lot; much better. Although this building may not win architecture prizes (or it might, what do I know?) I think it is just what the neighborhood needs.
This solid, four-story building provides the kind of substantial anchor the Broadway business district needs at that end. The gas station that occupied the property for so long was sort of an ugly moan instead of a strong transition from the business district to the residential area to the north. It did not beckon foot traffic to the end of the street, that was left to the small businesses on the sides of the 600 block of Broadway - and there was no hint that there might be something around the corner on East Roy Street where the Loveless Building and the Harvard Exit theater await.
A well-lit place
700 Broadway, with its broad pedestrian plaza and fountain, promises something more around the corner, and offers retail spaces as well that will draw shoppers farther north on the street.
When the awnings are installed above the sidewalk-level retail spaces, I think the building will look even better. The lights fastened along the exterior walls will be underneath the awnings and provide a well-lighted, pleasant walkway, especially in winter.
I have thought about what it would be like living in the 700 Broadway building, and I think it would be a good place to call home. I'll bet you can watch the colorful daily pageant of Broadway from any window, and the bus connections can't be beat. Add to that a short walk to two major grocery stores and the Broadway Market and restaurants of every stripe just a stroll away, and you really have something.
Well, I still don't know what architecture critics do, but judging from the P-I column on the Broadway Plaza they are supposed to tell developers what a shame it is that they wasted their money.
I don't think 700 Broadway is a waste at all. I think it adds strength to the neighborhood without taking over the neighborhood. Isn't that what you want from a new neighbor?
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann is a Capitol Hill resident. He can be reached c/o editor@ capitolhilltimes.com.
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